2024 NASW-Illinois Chapter Advocacy Day
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Illinois State Capitol Building, Springfield, IL
ADVOCACY DAY DETAILS
Registration for Advocacy Day has CLOSED
Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Lobby Leader Group: To be e-mailed individually by Fri 04/12
Lobby Leader Meet-Up Point & Training | 9:00am–10:00am
Rendezvous Room on the 2nd floor at the Wyndham Springfield City
Centre, 700 E Adams St, Springfield, IL 62701
Lobbying at Capitol | 10:00am–2:00pm
Illinois State Capitol Building, 401 South 2nd Street, Springfield IL 62701
Lunch on Your Own (see below for more info)
Cancellation Policy: Please see registration form for cancellation policy.
Please note: CEUs are NOT available for this year's event.
Advocacy Day is a ZERO PROFIT event for the NASW-Illinois Chapter. All fees cover a portion of the total costs.
GET READY FOR ADVOCACY DAY!
Check this page throughout the week for additional
Advocacy Day materials and information.
Pre-Advocacy Day Recorded Training
Links to Know:
Advocacy Day Agenda
Advocacy Day Folder (includes factsheets, maps, and more)
Factsheets
Illinois General Assembly webpage: https://www.ilga.gov/
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Senate Bill 2222 Senate Amendment 1 (SB2222 SA1) - Social Work Field Placement Grants
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House Bill 5457 (HB5457) - Updating standards for social work testing
accomodations
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Senate Bill 3779 (SB3779) / House Bill 5529 (HB5529) - Opioid antagonist
How to Find Illinois House & Senate Committee Hearings
Make a plan with your lobby group on which hearings you’d like to watch that fits around your meetings with legislators during the day.
To find the latest schedule of committee hearings held by the Illinois House and Senates:
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Go to: https://my.ilga.gov/
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Click on “House” or “Senate” on the far left-hand side menu, then “Committee Hearings.” If you’re checking the page on Advocacy Day, the Today tab will show the current day’s committee hearings; if NOT Advocacy Day, click on the Week tab for the full week’s schedule.
(Download tutorial w/screenshots)
Illinois Capitol Building Map
Download map here.
Suggested Dress
Business professional—remember you're meeting with your state legislators and representing the profession! We also recommend sensible walking shoes as you'll be walking approximately 0.5 mile to the capitol and walking around the building in various locations.
Parking
For individual and bus parking locations near the Illinois State Capitol Building, see our parking map.
Lunch on Your Own
Lunch will be on your own the day of the event. Participants should prepare to bring a sack lunch or bring money to purchase a lunch. The capitol has an on-site cafeteria located in the basement of the William G. Stratton Building.
Lunch times will vary by lobbying group and depend on your meeting times with legislators. We strongly recommend staying with your lobbying group throughout the day so as not to lose contact with your lobby leader. Legislator schedules are constantly changing and should a legislator schedule suddenly change their meeting times or allow them to be available to meet with constituents, you'll want to be near your lobby leader to know when you're meeting with your legislator to lobby.
NASW-Illinois Chapter Bill Tracker
Take a look at the new NASW-Illinois Chapter Bill Tracker! This product gives a relative real-time update on bills the chapter is tracking during the current Illinois legislative session. It provides a list of legislative proposals the chapter is currently monitoring or has taken a stance on during the current legislative session (116 in this session alone!). Take a look at the NASW-Illinois Chapter Bill Tracker here.
Advocacy Alerts
To sign up for NASW-Illinois Chapter Advocacy Alerts, go to: https://www.votervoice.net/NASWIL/home
Find Your Elected Official
To find out who your local elected officials are, click here. Scroll down and type in your complete address. The system should identify your address, then click "Confirm Address." Scroll down to find your state senator and state
representative to get their office address, phone number, and e-mail.
Register to Vote/Update Your Voting Address
If you aren't yet registered to vote in Illinois, aren't sure if you're registered to vote, or need to update your voting address, you can register to do so online now before March 4th or after March 21st. The below link will be valid through 11:59PM on March 3, 2024, at which point, you will be required to register in person at your local polling place through March 20, 2024. The link will reopen at 12:00am on March 21, 2024.
https://ova.elections.il.gov/
REGISTRATION FOR ADVOCACY DAY IS CLOSED.
DEADLINE: Friday, April 5, 2024
Registration Deadline: Friday, April 5, 2024*
*Registrants received after deadline are not guaranteed to be placed in groups to meet with their direct legislators.
Looking for group registration? See below.
For the first time since 2019, this year's Advocacy Day is back IN PERSON! Join the NASW-Illinois Chapter for our annual day of social work advocacy with other social work professionals and students. This year's Advocacy Day has been restructured to further enhance students and social workers' advocacy skills and ability to lobby directly to elected officials and their staffers.
Advocacy Day attendees will be split up by their senate and house districts and led by an NASW-Illinois Chapter Lobby Leader to meetings at the Illinois State Capitol building with their elected officials. Come learn about current emerging issues in the state of Illinois as well as up-to-the-minute legislation currently up for vote in Illinois. Unite your voices with hundreds of other social work colleagues on issues that affect the social work profession! Check back with this page in the coming weeks and months as presenters, factsheets, action alerts, and more are posted.
Please note: This year's new format for Advocacy Day will NOT allow for issuing
of CEUs.
NASW-Illinois Chapter Lobby Leaders Program
New to this year's Advocacy Day is our NASW-Illinois Chapter Lobby Leaders
Program. This one-day program will train individuals on effective lobbying
techniques, their local state senate and house representatives and other elected
officials, and how to navigate advocacy tools to effectively represent social work
priorities. To learn more about the NASW-Illinois Chapter Lobby Leaders
Program and apply, click here.
Pre-Advocacy Day Training
Date: Monday, April 8, 2024
Time: 12:00–12:30pm
Participation in our pre-Advocacy Day training to learn about the bills you’ll be advocating for on Advocacy Day is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. This 30-minute training will take place live virtually via Zoom on Monday, April 8, 2024, from 12:00 to 12:30pm. A recording of the training will also be made available to those who are unable to participate in the live training.
REGISTER IS CLOSED
DEADLINE: Friday, April 5, 2024*
*Registrations received after deadline are not guaranteed to be placed in groups to meet with their direct legislators.
Looking for group registration? In order to get as accurate information as possible about each registrant to maximize advocating efficacy on the day of the event, we ask that you please have students individually register using the above link. We can work with school liaisons to pull lists of registrants by school by request.
